Step forward for Regional Radio Dispatch

We're pleased to announce the signing of the Regional Radio Dispatch Service contract with Telstra, which will build and maintain a new digital radio infrastructure that brings every brigade up to speed no matter where they are.

The announcement was made this morning by Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Kim Wells.

The new radio dispatch network will provide CFA members across Victoria with the same high-quality digital dispatch capability available to Victoria Police, MFB, Ambulance Victoria and our brigades in metropolitan Melbourne.

The upgrade will provide around 500 regional brigades with direct radio communications with dispatch operators for the first time and allow all brigades to be dispatched under the Category 1 process.

It will reduce the need for group communications officers to support day-to-day dispatch communications activities in rural areas. This role, however, will remain essential for incident management communications and these members will continue to maintain their skills through regular training and exercises.

CFA will begin rolling out the Regional Radio Dispatch Service in November as the infrastructure is built by Telstra; and the digital network is expected to be available to all regional brigades by June 2014.

The training and operational transition will be planned in consultation with, and at the discretion of, district operations managers. Outer metropolitan Districts 7, 8, 13 and 14 are not currently included in the project scope as they are already covered by the metropolitan network.

Members in the coverage area will notice a clearer sound quality compared with the current analogue network and the switchover will be seamless with the current Tait radios. The duress button on the radios will be activated with the switchover, allowing members to send an emergency signal direct to the dispatch operator - in addition to the usual ‘May Day' emergency notification procedure.

Contact your District office if you'd like more information about when the new network will be rolled out to your area. More information is available at Brigades Online.